190 ^ WALLACE ON BORNEO. [Nov. 10, 1856. 



there forming miniature cascades and rapids, and throwing up on 

 one side or the other, extensive banks of finely-coloured pebbles. 

 No paddling could make way against it, but the Dyaks with bamboo 

 poles, propelled us along with great dexterity and swiftness, never 

 losing their balance, though standing up and exerting much force in 

 such a narrow and unsteady vessel. It was a brilliant day, and 

 the cheerful exertions of the men, the rushing of the sparkling 

 waters, with the bright and varied foliage, which, from either bank, 

 stretched over our heads, produced an exhilarating sensation, which 

 I had not felt since leaving the grander waters of South America. 



Early in the afternoon we reached the village of Borotoi ; and, 

 though it would have been easy to reach the next one before the 

 evening, I was obliged to stay, as my men wanted to return, and 

 others could not possibly go on with me without the preliminary 

 talking. Besides, a white man was too great a rarity to be allowed 

 to escape, and their wives would never have forgiven them, if, when 

 they returned from the fields, they found that such a curiosity had 

 not been kept for their examination. 



Walking out to a small hill near, cultivated as paddy fields, I had 

 a fine view of the country, which was becoming quite hilly, and 

 toward the south, mountainous. I took bearings and sketches of all 

 that were visible, which much astonished the Dyaks, who accompa- 

 nied me, and produced much conversation when we returned, with 

 a request to exhibit the compass. 



The next morning we proceeded as before ; but the river had 

 become so shallow and rapid, and the boats were all so small, that 

 though I had nothing with me but a change of clothes and a gun, 

 with the scantiest possible hatterie de cuisine, two were required with 

 five men to take me on. The rock, which appeared occasionally on 

 the river's banks, was an indurated clay-slate, sometimes highly 

 crystalline, and thrown up nearly vertical. To the right and left of 

 us were isolated mountains, which I knew to be limestone by their 

 peculiar outlines, and by the whiteness of the numerous precipices 

 they presented, no doubt an extension to the eastward of the lime- 

 stone of the Sarawak river. The river bed was a mass of pebbles, 

 mostly pure white quartz, with, however, abundance of jasper and 

 veined quartz, which often presented a beautiful appearance. It was 

 only 10 in the morning when we arrived at Budw ; and though there 

 were plenty of people about, I could not induce them to allow me to 

 go on to the next village, only three hours farther. 



I walked out to the paddy fields, which are here very extensive, 

 covering a number of the little hills and valleys into which the 

 whole country seems broken up, and obtained a beautiful view of 



